Microsoft hosted an event for Australian journalists to highlight how a number of companies are using the vendor's products to harness the 'Internet of Things'.

The London Underground — colloquially known as the Tube — is using Azure Intelligent Systems Service.

The service, which Microsoft recently launched a limited public preview of, allows the rail network to spot equipment degradation in real time, analyse data to measure asset performance over time, as well as streamline its manual monitoring processes, and securely integrate and automate disconnected systems.

The Tube supports about 1 billion passengers per year, and there are thousands of devices and data streams connected across the network. The Tube uses social media feeds, weather feeds, as well as data coming off its sensors, cameras and other connected devices to monitor it assets and human activity within the network.

The data is analysed using a predictive model to anticipate failures or problems within the network so that technicians can act on them before they escalate. Management staff can view on a map where a field technician is at any point on time. A central dashboard also feeds through updates on assets and how train services are performing.

The system can also pick up movement patters of people during certain times of the day to help with future planning an optimisation of the network.

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